Heat transfer apparatus known as heat pipes have been developed for transferring large amounts of heat with a small temperature drop. These heat pipes are of an efficiency which makes them the equivalent of a material having a thermo-conductivity greatly exceeding that of any known material. These heat pipes can be of various construction, for example of pipe construction of segmented pipe construction, having wicking or capillary elements positioned therein.
As is known in the art, the heat pipe can be utilized for transferring heat from the compressor or the condenser of a refrigerator to a mullion of the refrigerator as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,992,011--Knight.
Owing to the increasing attempts to conserve energy, it was discovered that the power requiements of a household refrigerator could be reduced by increasing the efficiency of dissipating the heat rejected by the refrigeration system. However, in increasing the efficiency of the refrigerator, it is desirable to transfer the heat from a portion of the refrigerator to a location outside the apartment, house, or other structure within which the refrigerator is used. This transfer of heat to the outdoors is particularly desirable during cold months where the temperature in the room where the refrigerator is located is considerably greater than the ambient temperature outside the house. As this temperature differential increases, heat from the refrigerator system is more readily removed by the heat pipe system thereby resulting in an increase in the efficiency of the refrigeration system.
For transferring the heat outdoors, it is necessary to provide a passageway through an outside wall of the house or apartment for extending the heat pipe therethrough. In order to provide a neat, non-objectionable opening, it is preferable that the opening be positioned immediately adjacent the floor. This positioning of the heat pipe created another problem in the construction of the heat pipe system.
The condensers of household refrigerators are generally positioned two or three feet above the bottom of the refrigerator. This made it necessary to construct the heat pipe which contained a wicking structure for the movement of the condensed liquid of the heat pipe upwardly to a position adjacent the condenser.
Since heat pipes of general U configuration are not inherently unidirectional in the transfer of heat, it then becomes necessary to provide means for terminating operation of the heat pipe during periods when the outside ambient temperature is greater than the temperature of the portion of the heat pipe associated with the condenser.
The system of this invention provides means for more efficiently operating a household refrigerator while overcoming the problems as set forth above.